Box Score BATON ROUGE, La. -- Grambling State University baseball legend and former coach Wilbert Ellis told the team before the game they are Tigers hungry for red meat, Jaguar meat. The GSU Tigers went on to feast on archrival Southern University Jaguars 11-7 Friday (April 8) night at Lee Hinds Field.
GSU was eating good entering the seventh inning, leading 8-2, before they could go for the juggler Southern (8-19, 3-9 SWAC) made things interesting as they battled back.
In the seventh, center fielder Javeayan Willaims walked and later scored. Second baseman Robinson Mateo doubled, Jose DeLa Torre batted him home with a single. Dondrayes Harries and Ashanti Wheatley both walked.
With the bases loaded, GSU called pitcher
Creighton Hoover to get the Tigers out the jam. Hoover faced one batter and threw one pitch in the seventh, getting GSU out the jam. GSU led 8-4.
Brennan Williams closed the saga for GSU. In the bottom of the ninth, he allowed two runs and GSU added another lost to Southern's seven game losing streak.
GSU (13-16,9-4 SWAC) clawed their way to an early 4-1 led. Early in the first, third baseman
Daniel Barnett hammered a pitch that nearly went 395 feet, bouncing off the wall in right center and scoring
Angel Peguero. Barnett doubled, bringing his total to 10 doubles on the season, tied for first in the Southwestern Athletic Conference.
In the second inning, right fielder Diaymn Hall got a RBI single, bringing Drain Brown home. Second baseman
Larry Barraza put the barrel of the bat on the ball, smacking a pitch up right middle, and Peguero scored again.
Next up at bat was first baseman
Tray Bell, popping up a sacrifice fly to center field to bring Barnett home. GSU led 4-1 after three innings.
With the bases loaded in the fifth, Bell had a chance for a grand slam. Peguero had other plans, stealing home on a wild pitch. Hall scored in the sixth, with a RBI credited to left fielder
Nicholas Wheeler.
Shortstop
Wesley Drain ripped off a solo 375 feet home run and GSU led 7-2. Catcher
Johan Mojica spanked a pitch 360 feet for a solo homerun. GSU led 8-2.
Starting right hander pitcher Isaac O'Bear (5-2), returned home to his Baton Rouge metro home area picking up the win in game one of a three game weekend series in front of a hometown crowd that included his mom, Stephany O'Bear, and sister Skylar O'Bear, a freshman point guard for the Lady Jags basketball team.
O'Bear gave them a good show, doing waht he does best as he sent batters back to the dugout, keeping Southern runs off of the scoreboard. He finished with four strikeouts and four earned runs. O'Bear has 33 strikeouts on the season.
GSU aims to win game two of three games Saturday (April 9) at 2 p.m.
